ICBC completes Argentinian bank stake purchase

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the world’s largest lender by market value, has completed the purchase of an 80 percent stake in Standard Bank Argentina and its two affiliates, from the Johannesburg-based Standard Bank of South Africa Limited. The deal — ICBC’s biggest takeover in nearly four years — is expected to cost no more than $650 million, it said in a statement on Wednesday. Argentina’s central bank approved the deal on Nov 8, making ICBC the first Chinese lender to enter Latin America’s third-largest economy. China Insurance Regulatory Commission loosened its restriction on how much insurers can invest in banks, the commission said in a statement late on Tuesday. In the regulation released in 2006, the commission stipulated that insurers’ investments in banks should be less than 3 percent of their total assets by the end of the previous year. That regulation has now been abolished, the commission said. The ceiling for insurers’ single stake investments is currently 30 percent. Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd, China’s second-largest electrical appliance retailer by revenue, said on Monday it will combine two of the company’s online shopping sites. “Gome will merge the two online shopping sites Gome.com.cn and Coo8. com to centralize management and share resources,” the company said. The home appliance giant said the integration will enable the sharing of information systems, the sharing of members’ information, the pooling of the merchandizing and logistics system, as well as unifying information services. The French city of Marseille is seeking for more investment and tourists from China as it celebrates the 25th anniversary of its twinning with Shanghai this week. A delegation representing around 40 companies has arrived in Shanghai to promote the city’s culture, food, fashion, telecommunications, transportation and scenery. “Giant Chinese companies such as Weichai Power and COSCO invested in our city way back and we are expecting more Chinese companies to come. Furthermore, we also want to attract more tourists from China,” said Didier Parakian, deputy mayor of the city.